Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad
In the Harry Mudd ' |image= |series= |production=107 |producer(s)= |story= |script= Aron Eli Coleite and Jesse Alexander |director= David M. Barrett |imdbref=tt5884346 |guests= Katherine Barrell as Stella Grimes, Peter MacNeill as Baron Grimes, Rainn Wilson as Harry Mudd, Milton Barnes as Deck Crew #1, Emily Coutts as Keyla Detmer, Jason Deline as Medical Officer, Hamza Fouad as Deck Crew #2, Patrick Kwok-Choon as Rhys, Sara Mitich as Airiam, Oyin Oladejo as Joann Owosekun, Ronnie Rowe as Comm Officer 2 (as Ronnie Rowe Jr.) and Izaak Smith as Jogger #2 |previous_production=Lethe |next_production=Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum |episode=DSC S01E07 |airdate= 29 October 2017 |previous_release=Lethe |next_release=Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum |story_date(s)=2136.8-2137.2 (2256) |previous_story=Lethe |next_story=Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum }} =Summary= Burnham is at a party and feels uncomfortable there. On Tilly's suggestion, she is just trying to have a conversation with Tyler, when the two are called to the bridge. Sensors have discovered a gormagander, an endangered space-dwelling species, and regulations require to beam it aboard for the transfer to a sanctuary. When the creature is in the shuttlebay, a man emerges - Harry Mudd. He shoots several crew members but is eventually confined. However, that doesn't seem to bother him. An explosive device destroys the Discovery. Time is reset. Burnham is at the party again, but when she and Tyler leave for the bridge, Stamets already knows that something will happen because of the gormagander. Owing to the tardigrade DNA injected into his body, he exists out of normal space-time. In this loop, Mudd beams out of the creature. He confines himself in engineering to find out the secret about the ship's drive but is shot by Stamets just before time is reset again. This time, Stamets rushes to the party to warn Burnham and Tyler in time, but they are already gone. He finds Burnham and asks her to tell him a secret to make it easier for him in the next loop. Mudd manages to take Captain Lorca hostage. He says he has already killed Lorca 53 times and does it again. Time is reset yet again. Stamets tells Burnham of the secret she revealed to him, that she has never been in love. Instead of trying to stop Mudd, he asks her to dance with him. In the following loop, Burnham is at the party again, and Stamets arranges for her to dance with Tyler. Burnham and Tyler talk about Mudd and find out what kind technology he is using. They rush to the bridge, where Mudd has already taken over the ship and only waits for someone to reveal the secret about its drive. He kills Tyler with a capsule of weaponized dark matter. Stamets finally tells Mudd that he himself is the secret component of the spore drive. Mudd now has everything he wanted. He contacts the Klingons to hand over the ship. But Burnham has an even more tempting offer for him - herself. She tells him the Klingons would pay an even higher reward for her than for the ship because she shot T'Kuvma, upon which she kills herself with a dark matter bullet. Mudd resets time and is surprised that the crew hands over the ship to him without resistance. He contacts the Klingons and proceeds to the transporter room to welcome them. But he was tricked. Tyler managed to lock him out from the ship's systems, and Mudd actually called his father-in-law, the father of his "beloved" Stella, that he was hiding from. Errors and Explanations EAS # The gormagander, a "space whale", is already the third space-dwelling creature in Discovery. In and , such species were always deemed something exciting and new, but the new series creates the impression they are almost daily routine. I hate to be repetitive, but this could be yet more evidence that this is not the true Prime Universe! # In , Mudd had a long record of crimes, including theft, smuggling and fraud - but definitely not murder or attempted murder. The release of Mudd into the custody of Baron Grimes is obviously supposed to keep his record clean in this regard, and in line with . This could be regarded as part of his punishment! Nitpicking # Stamets asks Burnham for a secret in her life that he could use in the next time loop to earn her trust. She whispers in his ear that she has never been in love. I think that's rather unsuited because it's indefinite evidence. It would have been better and more logical for her to mention a fact or a person from her childhood that is not on record. This assumes there is something unrecorded from her childhood! # Baron Grimes arrives within a few minutes after being called. Why does it need the spore drive if all ships in this universe are ultrafast? He was likely already nearby, searching for Harry! Internet Movie Database Incorrectly regarded as goofs # At one point Mudd says he has been through the loop 52 times and then goes through several more loops. Since each loop is 30 minutes long, he must have been awake for well over 26 hours, but shows no sign of it. 'With proper stimulants, especially ones available in the 23rd century, this is very realistic. Moreover, while Mudd retains memories from previous loops, his body is destroyed every time along with Discovery, so he starts the next loop with a body getting back to its previous state. Tiredness is largely causes by a buildup of chemicals in the blood. Resetting the body every half hour should thus allow a much longer, if not indefinite waking time. # Burnham says that the 'time crystal' technology hadn't been developed by any Federation species, but must instead have been developed by a four-dimensional species, clearly implying a very different type of beings to humans, even though humans are technically four-dimensional beings, existing in a 3-D space as well as in time. Burnham probably referred to some beings for whom time is just another spatial dimension and they can move in it freely, whereas humans have no control over their movement in time. ''' TV Tropes Headscratchers # Why doesn't Stamets immediately tell Lorca not to beam the space-whale aboard the ship the moment the loop starts? Lorca is aware enough of being in a sci-fi universe to at least keep the animal in space until thoroughly investigated. '''Tyler and Burnham tried that. Saru immediately pointed out that they had to per Starfleet regs. Stamets isn't going to be any more convincing than they were. Less so, in fact, given his recent behavior. Also, it wouldn't necessarily have worked. The first time through Mudd physically emerged from the space whale to shoot up the shuttle bay and get further into the ship. After an unknown number of loops, when Burnham scans the animal she picks up transporter energy because Mudd's beamed himself to the spore drive. Each loop through he figures out more and more of the ship's security and how to get around it. Presumably by the point where Stamets and Burnham know enough to try and convince Lorca, Mudd could possibly beam aboard directly. # Does no one set a phaser for stun anymore? As I understand it, using a phaser on kill on a Federation starship sets off alarms (or, using the more technical phrases, setting IV and higher) as per the Undiscovered Country, and considering they threw in a really cute Shout-Out to that movie in the "Mudd Murder Montage" where he uses a stun bolt to the head at point blank range to kill someone, you'd think that even Mudd himself would know on practical grounds only to use stun. Or maybe he thinks it "doesn't count" provided if, by the end, he doesn't kill anyone when he finally sells the ship to the Klingons on attempt number N? This theory also doesn't excuse the crew at all. You'd think that if they were self-defence weapons issued to crewers, Starfleet would have a rule that it's set to setting 1 unless ordered otherwise. Yet people are running around firing kill shots. Mudd has control of the computer. He doesn't need to worry about the alarms. He also doesn't mind killing people, since he killed Tyler and would have shut the loop off if not for Burnham. As for everyone else, Discovery is Starfleet's most important asset. Neutralizing threats probably comes a distant second to taking prisoners. Category:Episodes Category:Discovery